For The Record

Six charged in license scam The federal corruption probe at local secretary of state license facilities widened when six secretary of state employees at the Chicago-West driver's license facility were charged in the scandal. Workers were caught on video camera accepting bribes, usually $20, from driving school owners, to pass applicants on road tests even if they failed. Authorities believe at least 200 drivers passed because of the bribes, and began investigating whether other driving school instructors were involved. QUOTE OF THE WEEK "If Ashburn were a car, it wouldn't be a Lincoln or a Cadillac. It would be a Chevy. And a lot of people can afford Chevies." -- Real estate agent Walter Zubricki on the continuing appeal of the Ashburn neighborhood, the hottest market in the city for single-family homes SCHOOL STANDOFF. After being arrested for staging a protest against the expulsion of several Decatur high school students for brawling during a football game in September, the Rev. Jesse Jackson returned to Chicago, while the students were enrolled in alternative school programs for credit. The school board had shortened the expulsions from two years to one. REAL ESTATE. Developer R. M. Chin & Associates is moving ahead with the $375-million Grand Pier Center mixed-use development east of North Michigan Avenue. It will include a 16-screen movie theater and a Hilton Suites hotel. . . . Mayor Richard Daley announced a $100-million program under which the city will hire private developers to build more than 600 single-family homes on tax-delinquent and vacant parcels of land throughout Chicago. NAMING RIGHTS. Names of Cook County forest preserves could be sold to the highest bidder to raise money for land purchases and long-delayed repairs under a plan unveiled by County Commissioner Michael Quigley, D-Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. LAWSUITS. Chicago-based Andersen Consulting sued California-based Computer Sciences Corp., seeking more than $10 million in allegedly unpaid invoices. . . . Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan sued Life Care Systems LLC, an Aurora medical clinic, charging gross misrepresentations in its promises to cure individuals suffering from numerous serious diseases. ABBOTT LABORATORIES. The North Chicago-based pharmaceuticals company is being sued by two women who received false results in pregnancy tests that indicated they might have cancer and caused them to undergo unnecessary chemotherapy, and in one case, a hysterectomy, the Associated Press reported. Separately, Abbott and Alza Corp. said they won't close Abbott's acquisition of Alza without a second vote by Alza shareholders. QUAKER OATS CO. The Chicago-based consumer products company is developing a carbohydrate-rich version of its top-selling Gatorade sports drink and a related energy bar to further expand the profitable franchise. Separately, Quaker and other bulk vitamin buyers opposed a provision of a $1.17-billion price-fixing settlement they say bars them from negotiating more-generous terms with Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG and five other vitamin producers charged with conspiring to overcharge for their products. COMMONWEALTH EDISON CO. The Chicago utility plans to sell its $14.5-million, 1,662-acre property, commonly called "Monster Lake," near the Braidwood generating station, to the state for $7 million as part of the Illinois Open Land Trust Act. DOMINICK'S FINER FOODS. The Chicago-area grocery chain, which was bought last year by California-based Safeway Inc., avoided a strike as unions representing 11,000 Dominick's workers approved a new three-year contract that includes a pay increase and a break on their health insurance premiums. STAGE ACCIDENT. Two shows were canceled and two actors slightly injured when a prop they were being lifted in fell about 15 feet to the stage during a performance of the musical "Aida" at the newly restored Cadillac Palace Theatre in the Loop. BP AMOCO PLC. The London-based oil giant was fined $163,516 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which said the company violated clean-air rules at its chemical plant in Channahon. SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO. As part of its deal to give the Hoffman Estates-based retailer a $13.5-million tax-increment financing subsidy to open a new store on State Street, the Daley administration said it will give Sears credit for $18 million in repairs it has already made to upgrade its six neighborhood stores. That will leave the company responsible for pumping only $12 million into those stores, not the $30 million originally announced in the agreement. Meanwhile, Toronto-based Sears Canada Inc., which is partly owned by Sears, lost a bid to pay as little as $6.8 million for insolvent Canadian retailer T. Eaton Co. rather than the $55 million it originally offered, the Globe and Mail reported. CELL PHONE BAN. Alderman Burton Natarus (42nd) proposed a city ordinance that would make talking on a cellular phone while driving illegal and establish fines of $100 for violations.The law would allow drivers to use hands-free equipment and make emergency calls. PEOPLE. Vernon Loucks, 65, will retire as chairman of Deerfield-based Baxter International Inc. at yearend. As expected, he will be succeeded by Harry Jansen Kraemer Jr., 44, who will continue as president and CEO. . . . Jeffrey P. Gannon, 48, CEO of Glenview-based Zenith Electronics Corp., which recently became a subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc., said he will leave the company. He will be succeeded by Ian G. Woods, 42, a senior vice-president at LG. . . . Chicago's Commonwealth Edison Co. named Ronald E. Talbot, 38, to serve as regional distribution operations vice-president for Chicago. He was a utility expert with New York's Consolidated Edison Co. ComEd also promoted Carl L. Segneri, 41, to the same position in charge of suburban and rural territories. . . . Gregory Josefowicz, 47, former president of Melrose Park-based Jewel-Osco, was named president and CEO of Michigan-based bookseller Borders Group Inc. . . . Jim DeCastro, 44, Chicago-based radio group president and CEO of AMFM Inc., was named chairman and CEO of AMFMi, the company's Internet strategy division, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. STOCK MATTERS. Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp. said it will pay dividends once a year instead of four times beginning in 2000 to cut processing costs. . . . Rolling Meadows-based Whitman Corp. authorized the repurchase of 15 million shares of its common stock. SABRATEK CORP. The Securities and Exchange Commission launched a formal investigation of the Skokie-based maker of medical devices in connection with its plans for financial and operational restructuring. The company said it is cooperating with the SEC. CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE. Despite opposition by President Thomas R. Donovan, members of the Chicago exchange approved four of five ballot proposals, including voting for the disclosure of senior managers' salaries and to change the way directors are chosen. ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO Chicago art collectors Jean and Steven Goldman will donate about 80 Old Master drawings to the museum and give $5 million. Their collection includes "The Nativity," an early-16th-century work by Italian master Raphael. DEALS. Deerfield-based Specialty Foods Corp. agreed to sell its Metz Baking Co. subsidiary to Earthgrains Co. of St. Louis for $625 million. . . . Chicago-based R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co. agreed to purchase Penton Press, the printing division of Ohio-based Penton Media Inc. . . . Downers Grove-based Platinum Entertainment Inc. signed an agreement for its PED Corp. subsidiary to be the exclusive distributor of music from New York-based Brooklyn Music Ltd., which records popular bands Fat Boy Slim, Crystal Method and the Chemical Brothers. . . . Chicago's Unicom Corp. acquired American Energy Conservation Inc., an Elkhart, Ind., energy services contractor. ETC. Merrillville, Ind.-based NiSource Inc. plans to build a $60-million power plant at a steel mill in East Chicago, Ind., owned by Cleveland-based LTV Corp. . . . The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against a Chicago man, Leszek Zbierajewski, for allegedly issuing a false news release on a financial Web site. . . . Arthur Andersen won an agreement to provide General Motors Corp. financial transaction processing worth $250 million. Compiled from Bloomberg News reports and other sources.